Report links history of slavery to racial inequalities in Philadelphia's criminal justice system
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner released a new report on Juneteenth, highlighting racial inequalities in the city's criminal legal system and linking it to the enslavement of Black people in the U.S. centuries ago.
The report, by the district attorney's transparency analytics (DATA) lab, said that racist and classist origins continue to persist in over-policing, over-prosecution, over-incarceration, and over-supervision of Black, Brown, and impoverished people in the U.S.
"The system is racist! It was then, it is now. We haven't fixed that, and we're not going to be able to fix that all by ourselves," Krasner said.
A strong statement from Krasner, and he says he has the numbers to back it up.
Krasner's office released its racial injustice report three years in the making. It details arrests, convictions and sentences in the city by race.
" It puts numbers to a problem. It admits that a problem was there," Krasner said.
DA data shows despite making up just 38% of the city's population – Black people accounted for 69% of all police stops and 62% of all arrests between 2015 and 2022 compared to just 21% of White people.
The report also shows Black people were also more likely to be sentenced to jail time – accounting for 65% of incarceration sentences to just 15% for Whites.
Noticeably absent from Monday's announcement – the Philadelphia Police Department. PPD did not respond to our request for comment.
CBS News Philadelphia asked Krasner about their role in this report's findings.
"This is not a blame game. We're not here to throw rocks," he said.
What the report doesn't show is how to address these numbers. Last week councilmember Jamie Gauthier made a resolution to create a reparation task force.
"We have to invest in housing. We have to invest in schools. We have to invest in economic opportunity," Gauthier said.
But it won't just be lawmakers fighting this fight. Jerome Loach was jailed for more than a decade for a home invasion and eventually exonerated. He says people like him need to be involved as well.
"In order for us to succeed as a whole, you've got to allow those who have been impacted to have a seat at the table," Loach said.
